Wallace Darwin and the Origin of Species

About this book

Charles Darwin is often credited with discovering natural selection, but the idea was not his alone. The naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, working independently, saw the same process at work and elaborated much the same theory. Their important scientific contributions made both men famous in their lifetimes, but Wallace slipped into obscurity after his death, while Darwin's renown grew. Dispelling the misperceptions that continue to paint Wallace as a secondary figure, James Costa reveals the two naturalists as true equals in advancing one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time. Analyzing Wallace's "Species Notebook," Costa shows how Wallace's methods and thought processes paralleled Darwin's, yet inspired insights uniquely his own. Kept during his Southeast Asian expeditions of the 1850s, the notebook is a window into Wallace's early evolutionary ideas. Most important, it demonstrates conclusively that natural selection was not some idea Wallace stumbled upon, but the culmination of a decade-long quest to solve the mystery of the origin of species.--From publisher description.